Genealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Write Your Own Obituary?

Justus Fox, d. January 26, 1805

Experienced genealogists know that obituaries can tell a lot about someone who has passed away. The information can often provide leads for further research. But the obituary is almost always written during a stressful time, and the person putting it together may misremember facts or omit something entirely. When my grandmother passed away, my aunt asked me for details about my grandmother's life, but not everyone has a "family genealogist."

Would an obituary be more accurate if the person wrote it for himself? What would you say about your life if you were asked to write your obituary?

The residents of a small English village have been asked to do just that. The editor of Lydiards Magazine, the monthly publication of the village of Lydiard Millicent in Wiltshire, England, included a request in the March issue for residents to write their obituaries "in good time."

So far no one has sent an obituary in, including the editor herself. Perhaps they're too humble to write about their accomplishments.

4 comments:

I've already written my mother's obituary but due to Alzheimer's Disease, I've anticipated her passing for some time now.

I wanted to compose a tribute to her while I was not distracted by emotions or the tedium of planning a funeral and dealing with crazy family members. Also I know my hometown paper and the fact that they can't spell anything if it is read to them over the phone.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother's Alzheimer's, but it's good that you're prepared. I suspect it also gave you a chance to reflect on better, happier times. It's one of those "morbid" tasks that people probably should think about before the time comes, so they can avoid doing it under stress.

I've written my own obituary and revise it every few years. It's on file with the mortuary and trust company with my other instructions. My Dad has also re-written his a few times, and eventually decided on cremation since all of his designated pallbearers have now died. It's much easier with the instructions written out in advance.

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About Me

I am passionate about genealogy. I love researching my own family and everyone else's, and I will talk your ear off about the cool things I have found. I like fitting all the pieces together and figuring out which people belong to which families. I also love to find the stories behind the people and learn as much as I can about why they did what they did. I look at the historical context around the people I research.

I am lucky enough to do what I love for a living. I am a professional genealogist who specializes in
Jewish, forensic, and newspaper research. I am also active as a volunteer in the genealogy community. I edit three genealogy journals: The Galitzianer, focused
on Jewish research in the former Austrian province of Galicia; ZichronNote, journal of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish
Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS); and The Baobab Tree, journal of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). I am the vice president and publicity director for SFBAJGS, and a board member of AAGSNC and California State
Genealogical Alliance. I have been on the staff of
the Oakland FamilySearch Library since 2000.

I am a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy, Genealogical
Speakers Guild, California Genealogical Society, and Gesher Galicia. Before
becoming a professional genealogist, I worked in publishing for
many years as an editor, indexer, translator, and compositor.

When not involved in genealogy or publishing, I love singing, cooking, needlework, gardening, and painting small miniatures. Way back when, I was in the USC Marching Band for five years (see the bragging rights about the Super Bowl, the World Series, and "The Naked Gun"), one of the best experiences of my life.